1 Timothy 3:1-10 ▼

1 Faithful is the saying, "If any one is eager to have the oversight of a Church, he desires a noble work."

2 A minister then must be a man of irreproachable character, true to his one wife, temperate, sober-minded, well-behaved, hospitable to strangers, and with a gift for teaching;

3 not a hard drinker nor given to blows; not selfish or quarrelsome or covetous;

4 but ruling his own household wisely and well, with children kept under control with true dignity.

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6 He ought not to be a new convert, for fear he should be blinded with pride and come under the same condemnation as the Devil.

7 It is needful also that he bear a good character with people outside the Church, lest he fall into reproach or a snare of the Devil.

8 Deacons, in the same way, must be men of serious demeanour, not double-tongued, nor addicted to much wine, nor greedy of base gain,

9 but holding the secret truths of the faith with a clear conscience.

10 And they must also be well-tried men, and when found to be of unblemished character then let them serve as deacons.